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An anonymous reader writes "Nokia's former head designer has called on Apple to work with the broader technology industry and end its policy of having proprietary connectors for its device chargers and accessories. Other experts say Apple cannot continue to go it alone with Lightning Connectors and ignore Micro USB."

Oh, I totally agree... With the slight difference that I actually think that the Lightning connector is actually better design. It's small and orientation less and rather robust. Micro-USB, while ubiquitous, is rather fragile and has orientation. It'd rather see all phone manufacturers switch to the Lightning connector instead. I know this won't happen, especially since the EU mandates Micro-USB.

Oh, and before you accuse me of being an Apple fanboy. I'm still on a non-Lightning iPhone and if it wasn't my employer who paid for my phone, I wouldn't even have a smartphone.

There are at least 2 data protocols which will output video from micro-USB. MHL and Slimport (aka MyDP, mobile DisplayPort). Both can do 1080p60 output (i.e. FullHD and 3D), and aside from how they draw power, they work in a similar way to the end user - plug dongle into phone, plug HDMI cable into dongle, plug power (if applicable) into dongle, and play. Dongles start from $20 up.

To be fair, you could almost certainly build a cable which includes the dongle and HDMI conversion inline, especially if there are variants that don't require an external power source. Personally I like having components separated out a bit more, a 'cell phone video cable' is worthless to me if I'm not using it for hooking up a cell phone. A dongle with an HDMI cable attached to it, is still an HDMI cable if I remove the dongle and want to use it on something else. I feel the same way about DVI to HDMI ca

microUSB was popular way before the EU mandated it. And miniUSB (same thing in a larger and less robust connector) was popular before microUSB. The market started moving towards microUSB (after miniUSB) before any sort of mandate by the EU.Since there is no alternative standard that comes close to microUSB overall (Lightning is stupidly proprietary compared to USB and is needlessly complex, besides being designed so that the device breaks before the cable - microUSB is specifically designed so that stress i

I'm sorry, but you are wrong. While the EU did allow the manufacturers to dictate the standard, they implemented the standard in late 2010 specifically because there were so many different phone charging connectors. If it was all free love and unicorns, the EU never would have stepped in to force the manufacturers to standardize. Every phone I had prior to 2010 had some odd-ball connector: Motorola used a weird mini-USB that wouldn't charge from a computer, Apple had the "dock" connector, Samsung had an ass

I'll tell you why this is so consumer-unfriendly. Sure, on the surface it seems convenient to re-use your chargers. But the state of the art now cannot change. What incentive does a manufacturer have to build a better connector? What if they had passed this stupid law in 2005, before micro-usb was invented? We'd be stuck with that horrible mini-usb port that only lasted for a couple thousand insertions by design.

I agree with their goal, but I think their method is not the most effective. I think simply banning the practice of including a charger with every phone/device, followed by a tax on the wall warts themselves would go further towards the goal. It would end the practice of including a charger whether it is needed or not, and it would make your box of wall warts worthy of selling on the secondary market, in effect recycling them. It would have two negative side effects that are very obvious: 1) Wall warts woul

If Apple's issue really was that micro USB was too fragile, well they could have introduced a new, standard, connector to fix that. Design a "mobile USB" standard, that is durable, orients either way, integrates pins for HDMI, etc. Get it all nice n' designed and tested, then hand the design over to the USB Group, royalty free (like all USB standards). Particularly if it was going to be part of new Apple phones I don't imagine that there'd be a lot of resistance to adoption.

The EU's mandate doesn't come from a love of micro-USB, but rather the need for a standard, whatever that is. Micro-USB is the best we've got and the most prevalent, so that is what they are going for. If there was a better one out there, particularly if you could show how increased durability could lead to longer life and less waste, I think it'd have a good chance of being the standard.

However Apple has no interest in that at all. Their new connector wasn't made because micro-USB is so bad, it was made because Apple desires to be the only place you buy Apple accessories.

Hanging devices by connectors? Sounds like a terrible storage solution.

So just to be clear, you complained that the cables have poor retention, which is bullshit, but you don't actually care if the cables have poor retention, you just wanted something to complain about so you made something up? Got it.

In fact both mini and micro USB are bad designs, they do not sit firmly in the socket and micro USB connectors have a tendency to break off the little plastic contact plate inside the socket.

I've not had that problem with either connector design and nor does anyone I know.

I'd say the sole problem with the current crop of tiny USB connectors is purely that whole four dimensional thing (where you have to turn it around twice to get it to fit.) Since the great switch over, I cannot think of a single device

Sony Xperia phone recently arrived in my "broken USB connector to be repaired" list, at first I thought the client had reamed out the whole connector, but nope, instead it seems that Sony in their infinite forsight deviced "to hell with the physical orientation keying on the metal shell, let's just rely on the offset tongue holding the pins.

Needless to say, a lot of those phones are now being sent back for repair due to people not getting the orientation right first time, forcing it slightly ( and people do

The difference being that Apple makes it very difficult for third party manufacturers, while the USB consortium are keen to get broad industry support. For Apple the patent seems to be used to exclude competition, while the USB patent holders and USB manufacturers are engaged in reciprocal and royalty-free licensing arrangements.

From a libre point of view, a patented standard is not the same as a patent-encumbered standard; the difference lies in the licencing.

The difference being that Apple makes it very difficult for third party manufacturers

On the contrary, they gladly help third party accessory while at the same time they lock out handset manufacturers as that's very effective a lock-in of their customer base. Someone that have spent USD300 on a Bose SoundDock are less likely to change to a different handset maker than they otherwise would be since a SoundDock without an iPhone/iPad it is just a very expensive paperweight.

This customer lock in via third parties would evaporate the very instant that Apple gave other handset makers access to their proprietary connectors. And while Apple have equivalents to many of the third party accessories, it would not be possible for Apple to keep it all in-house as people want/need more variety on their accessories than Apple can and want to offer.

Apple need 3rd party manufacturers more than 3rd party manufacturers need Apple.

Not really as one (the primary?) reason for the new connector is size. The old connector effectively put serious limitations on the form factor and size of their devices, for example the planned iWatch would either have to rely on a standard USB or a second proprietary Apple connector along side the 30 pin one or be ridiculously clunky all of which would be poor business decisions. The ideal solution from Apples perspective was to drop the old connector in favor of a new smaller one in order to greatly ex

Yes, Apple uses patents for what they're intended for - to keep competition at bay while capitalizing on their 'invention'. They developed their invention, they get to keep it. (off course that is before entering into a discussion on the MERIT of a patent which I personally think there is none in the field of mathematics (software) or science)

The USB manufacturers use their patents to capitalize on standards. Every time you implement USB you got to pay a couple of cents to someone who is totally not involved in your design process simply because they bought somebody else's idea. It's perverse to think about it because if you do think up a similar solution, it's thoughtcrime. They didn't develop any hardware, they didn't think about it, they don't even sell you any hardware. USB patent holders and manufacturers are indeed in reciprocal arrangements because they ALL have similar patents and they are ALL infringing on each other, that's how ubiquitous and general these "inventions" and patents are that they rather not fight each other in endless court battles because they all know once they do, half their patent portfolio will be destroyed. But if you're not in the select group of patent holders or manufacturers, you don't get to benefit from these arrangements. You can't 3D print a USB-like connector because you're in violation of someone's patent, you have to buy them from a select number of manufacturers, if you're not big enough to fight them you're shit out of luck. But hey, it's a "standard", let's legalize these solutions so the oligopoly can raise the prices from cents to full dollars.

It was developed to be the fragile single point of failure for all manufacturers.

Actually micro-usb is designed to be more durable [wikipedia.org] than previous USB designs by putting all moving parts on the cable instead of the socket, putting more wear on the cable instead of the socket.

Micro-usb socket break off the board? You can blame manufacturer cost-cutting for that, the same thing would happen if they attached a lightning connector weakly too.

I'm not saying that proprietary is preferable. I'm saying that from the design, the lightning connector is better. That's if parent encumbered an proprietary doesn't mean that it can't be technically superior, right? In other words: it would be preferable to have an open connector with the hardware design characteristics of the lightning connector.

I was disappointed with the 720p resolution I got from mirroring the "Retina" display and THEN read the Apple Web site. Check Apple Web site first! Do not miss the IPad (4th gen) tech spec;) " . . . Video mirroring and video out support: Up to 720p through Lightning Digital AV Adapter . .."

I agree. There definitely should be a standard connector for this kind of thing, but it should be something that doesn't suck. The old Apple Dock connectors had a lot more functionality than the newer lightning ones, but the connector was bit too big. A ubiquitous connector needs:

A future-proof data signal (e.g. Thunderbolt, which can carry a signal fast enough that it won't be obsolete within a couple of years of release), that doesn't need to be supported by endpoints but can be detected and used if it is.

A widely-supported legacy signal (e.g. USB) so that it works everywhere

A lightweight mechanism for negotiating power demands and capabilities between supply and device.

A physically sturdy connector, with a reference design of a socket that will stand at least 1,000 insertions and ideally 10,000 in normal use.

A connector that either has an orientation so obvious that no one could possibly plug it in the wrong way, or one that works in either orientation.

Any patents that cover the design must be licensed royalty free, so third parties can interface with it cheaply and easily.

Neither microUSB nor Lightning meets these requirements. If Nokia wants to fix this, they should get together an industry group to design and agree to use such a connector. Don't complain at Apple, design a better connector than the Apple one, get everyone except Apple behind it, and market the hell out of it. Make every non-Apple phone have a big sticker on it saying that it supports the standard connector and list the features that make it better than the Apple one.

1000 Insertions is way to few. I connect my phone (for charging or data transfer, 2-3 times a day. It would be out of design spec in a year. I use my devices longer than that thank you. (Although in many I am capable of replacing the jack, most others are not).

One that Apple did right was the headphone jack with the mic. If you want to see a bad selection of incompatible devices, try the multitude of cell phone wired headsets. Nokia was just as bad as the rest. My old Nokia phone had a connector that did not match anything by anybody else. Apple wired headsets, earbuds with mic, etc work fine on Motorola and other phones and some tablets. I first saw that configuration on Apple phones. It would be nice to unify on chargers. Motorola has a standard connecto

What complete muppet designed USB, a frequent plug-unplug connector by nature, to have orientation?

It was the genius who understood the product requirements for a ubiquitous, low cost and robust connector.

There are only two ways to avoid having orientation. You can have pins on both sides of the connector in a mirrored formation, or you can have a multiplexer in the device. Mirroring requires duplicate sets of pins, which means twice as many failure points and more PCB space dedicated to pads and signals instead of large anchor points to give the connector mechanical strength. It also increases cost. Multiplexers for high speed signals are not cheap either, and having a more complicated PCB layout for high speed signals also adds cost.

Lightning works for Apple because their products are expensive. It isn't suitable as a universal connector for all manufacturers. The genius of Micro USB is that it is cheap but also robust (the cables are designed to break in order to save the connector, which is rated at 10k cycles minimum) and supports very high speed signals like MHI/HDMI which the Lightning connector does not.

There are only two ways to avoid having orientation. You can have pins on both sides of the connector in a mirrored formation, or you can have a multiplexer in the device.

Actually, there's also a third way, commonly used in audio cables: Make the plug and all contacts rotationally symmetric. That strategy might not work well for the type of signal USB carries (I have no idea if it does), but in terms of being rotationally symmetric, it can't be beaten. You can even rotate the plug while plugging it in.

"Twice as many failure points" -- LOLOL. We're creating REDUNDANCY here. That's a GOOD thing. If one of the 4 pins in your USB connector breaks, you're fucked. If one of the 4 wires in a connector like I describe breaks, you put a dot with a marker on that side and remember that this connector only works one way now.

The difference in PCB printing and other costs are marginal. You can buy a variety of more complicated cables from monoprice for $3 each -- these things literally cost pennies, or a dollar or so, in quantity. And the OEM only cares about shipping a cable with a $300 device, or selling individually for $20. Let the commodity cable companies go after the low-end.

I'm not saying Apple's Lightning design is perfect but there's no reason not to make cables reversible. You're talking about something that gets used literally daily by hundreds of millions of people around the world. If automakers can afford to make keys that go both ways, electronics companies can make reversible cables. Design is all about compromise, but making a two-way connector isn't *that* big of a deal.

You run a wire up, split it, then join the two 1s. Another wire goes up, splits, and joins the 2s. Etc.

Hi. I see you have never done any mechanical connector design so I'll explain how it works for you. The connectors need to be mountable on a PCB by flow/wave soldering. No wires, so that plan is out I'm afraid. I suppose you could add some to the connector itself, but that costs money. Ideally you want the connector to be made entirely out of stamped metal parts, like the Micro USB connector is.

Redundancy as in "one side now shorts so, so both sides are broken". Pins bent out of shape and shorting is the most common failure mode of small pitch connectors like this. Again, this is well understood by people who design mechanical connectors.

You can buy a variety of more complicated cables from monoprice for $3 each

Micro USB connectors (PCB mount, the part that takes the strain) cost about 40c (Euro) for quality ones. Of course we have no idea how much lightning connectors cost, but I guarantee it's more. Might not sound like a lot but if a phone sells for 40 Euro retail then wholesale price will be about 20 Euro and BOM cost will be about 10 Euro, so that connector is maybe 4% of the total cost.

The horrible part of the design is that the orientation is something you can only tell with good eyes in clear light.

Why the hell you'd design a modern plug that way is beyond me.

Bias: fine, sometimes necessary. I might even say its a preferable simple-physical solution to requiring everything using the plug to have the extra few-cents' worth of circuitry to switch around the pin that's taking in power before it burns out your system completely. FAR simpler to have an L-shape or right triangle or SOMETHING that I can feel for in the dark and plug in without wrecking either my cable or the device.

wrong approach. just because it's better (and it is), doesn't mean for even a second it should be used if it's proprietary. Either force apple to open it up 100%, or find a non proprietary solution. In the case of phone cables, proprietary does not work.

I'm puzzled by complaints about fragility and having to be plugged in the right way. My last two phones and the one I have now had and have micro-USB. The cables outlasted the phones. OTOH, I've had a lot of those 1/8 inch audio jacks break. U wish they'd use RCA jacks on computers (it wouldn't work on a phone).

I would guess that most problems with any plugs stem from users pulling them out holding the wire rather than the plug.

USB itself will only plug in one way, polarized wall plugs only plug in one way, and I don't remember anyone bitching when they went from non-polarized to polarized wall plugs.

The plug itself incorporates a processor [wikipedia.org] which detects the plug's orientation and routes the electrical signals to the correct pins. Official Lightning connectors contain an authentication chip that makes it difficult for third-party manufacturers to produce compatible accessories without being approved by Apple.

Unless you're trying to make an interconnect that is media independent, like GBIC or SFP, or running such large distances that you need active repeaters, why would you put any smarts in your cable? That's just retarded. Why can't you simply place the logic inside the phone in the same manner you have dual-mode USB/PS2 mice and keyboards?

Seriously, what's the problem? The important thing are charges that you can plug into the wall and that should be safe and powerful, with a USB outlet. And then you have cables that you plug into devices - what's the problem with having different cables? And why should a company producing _better_ cables switch to an inferior one?

Is a design that requires an authentication chip in the cable really superior? It doesn't protect you from unsafe cheap power supplies and means you have to buy these cables from Apple, or someone whom Apple has blessed with a license. I accept the physical design is safer, but why does it have to be proprietary?

Because Apple's cables are proprietary, and even contain a chip with the sole purpose to prevent third-parties from making their own. Apple overcharges users for the cables, while preventing the competition from building cheaper alternatives.

If you're asking for the rationale behind the EU charger harmonisation, it's waste. If every device uses the same charger then fewer chargers have to be manufactured and ultimately recycled. For example you never have to go out and buy a "spare" charger for your smartphone to keep at the office, or a replacement for the one you left behind on holiday, if you already have four mutually intercompatible chargers that originally came with different products.

Of course whether that rationale makes any sense is up for debate but that's the logic.

Apple uses the charge port/connection for handling all of the accessories and controlling what goes on the market for their phones while also getting a nice chunk of change in licensing fees.

If they are forced to comply with the European regulators, my bet is they will just add a micro USB-B port to the side of the device that is only connected for charging period while keeping their proprietary connector for everything it does now. I predict it will also be in an inconvenient location say the right side of the phone. And it may only be done for phones intended for orginal sale in Europe (although that is more dependant on sales volume their vs. supply chain cost/impact).

Either way they are going to do their best to comply with the letter of the law, and keep every bit of their business model and revenue streams intact.

Their solution thus far has been to sell a £25 Lightning->MicroUSB adaptor to people, which for some bizarre reason the EU thinks is fine even though the entire purpose of the MicroUSB charging standard requirements was to reduce waste (because previously everyone would have to bin their old charging cables when getting a new phone).

It does meet the goals of the standard: the adaptor means that the iPhone 5 and later can accept any microUSB charger, and the Lightning charger can charge any microUSB phone. Functionally it's equivalent (once you buy two of them...) to just having a microUSB port on there.

Reason for Lightning: see this hideous microUSB 3.0 cable [androidbeat.com] what sort of shitty design is this? I know it's backwards compatible, but the USB standard was not future-proof as one can see from the picture, so it deserves to die.

Reason for Lightning: see this hideous microUSB 3.0 cable [androidbeat.com] what sort of shitty design is this? I know it's backwards compatible, but the USB standard was not future-proof as one can see from the picture, so it deserves to die.

As you can see from the cable, the backwards compatibility will only work in one direction. Clearly, because of the larger connector, USB 3.0 cables (regular, mini or micro) are not compatible with non-USB 3.0 devices. Newer devices will still work with the older micro-USB cables that don't have the wider connector, but that's as far as "backwards compatibility" goes. The new USB 3.0 connectors are essentially completely different connectors, and ridiculously larger.

For things that don't need to be secure, sure, Wireless is OK. But you can't argue that Wired is more secure, forget about it. Wired, local networks are something a lot of Companies and Governments should learn to use. My home is completely wired, and I don't ever see that changing (I don't own a Smart Phone etc.). That's MY preference, but I understand completely that most people, seemingly yourself; don't really care about privacy or security.

Wait... we're talking about *charging*. Transmitting power to the phone, not interacting with data.

My home is completely wired, and I don't ever see that changing (I don't own a Smart Phone etc.).

Ah, that atleast is clear. What exactly is the point of a mobile phone that cannot communicate via wireless?

That's MY preference, but I understand completely that most people, seemingly yourself; don't really care about privacy or security.

What the fuck? That's a bit of a leap to get to that judgement! And you understand that even a wired connection is vulnerable? Perhaps the whole NSA revelations passed you by... Maybe you should disconnect completely, if you don't you 'obviously' don't care about privacy or security.

Unlike the Dock which contained a whole load of dedicated video and audio connectors, the Lightning connector's just an 8-pin connector that gets its video and docking capability from sending a digital stream that's interpreted further down the line. There's no a lot that Lightning can do that microUSB can't do by a similar system such as MHL.

Cable orientation wasn't a problem before the connectors got tiny and I have to stare at it very closely to spot the shape. As we get older, some of us lose visual acuity. I don't want to have to call my wife to plug in my phone.

Cable orientation wasn't a problem before the connectors got tiny and I have to stare at it very closely to spot the shape.

It was already a problem with the original USB connectors, and they are nowadays considered huge. How many human hours have been wasted in plugging in USB connectors the wrong way round? Per person it may not be much, but it does add up.

Because nobody will every try to make another new kind of USB connector.

There's a difference between "the existing standard connector doesn't have the features we need, so we will colleborate with the rest of the industry and design a new connector for everyone to use" and "the existing standard connector is unsuitable*, so we will develop our own connector and patent the hell out of it so no one can ever be compatible".

(* Why Apple thought the micro USB connector is unsuitable is debatable... many suspect it was considered unsuitable *because* they couldn't patent the hell out of it).

The point is that Apple provides a cable that is different than the other cable that all other vendors use. It's not like Apple has a cable, Samsung has a cable, HTC has a cable, etc...Apple has a cable and EVERYONE ELSE has a cable that Apple could have used for your convenience, but they don't. Because.

Is that not inconvenient for you? I know that wherever I take my phone there is likely a micro usb cable I can use to charge it without needing to carry a specific cable with me everywhere I go. What

If Apple licensed their superior technology to other vendors, sure...I totally agree. To take it a step further, if Apple had engineered their lightning connector to contain the standard micro USB pin-out for charging ONLY and another segment to augment the capabilities and provide the features you're talking about when using a 'lightning' connector, they would still have the new featureset but would have also provided the ability to utilize any cable, anywhere to charge your device. The only thing missin

The relevant part is that the proprietary connector type is the real issue. I can pick up a micro USB cable anywhere and charge my phone and there 90% of all other cell phone manufacturers utilize micro USB as a standard for charging and data connectivity so almost everyone I know and you know has a micro USB cable to charge my phone with. Unless you buy 10 extra iPhone charging cables and leave them at all your friends' houses and everywhere you frequent, or you carry a primary and a backup charging cabl

Usually those extra accessories will try to take advantage of a unique feature in the phone, so even if the cable fits it doesn't mean the software will work with it.

USB is a standard. The USB on my kyocera will work on your HTC. That's what STANDARD means. "Sticking it to the Americans" is just stupid. Remember, Google's Nexus uses the same STANDARD mini-USB as everyone else's phones... except Apple, who seem to be taking a page from Microsoft's playbook.

I have to agree, in fact I won't buy a device that uses non standard connectors anymore, I found out what a PITA that is when I was on a trip with my ex and her phone couldn't take my adapter so i ended up spending the better part of a Sunday trying to find the funky adapter her phone used. Now I don't even think about it, I keep a standard mini-USB hanging off the PC at the shop and the one at the apt and it fits mine, fits my fiance's, fits the boys phones, it all "just works".

This is where reality differs from theory. In theory, all micro-USB devices would be able to swap chargers but I know of one person (anecdote, but true nonetheless) who upgraded his phone, used the charger from his old phone, and fried his new phone due to differences in voltage and power.

You think you are making the argument against following the standard, but actually you are making the argument *for* the standard. Either the first phone's manufacturer failed to follow the standard's specification for voltage output in his power adapter, or the second phone's manufacturer failed to comply with the standard's specification of required range of input voltage.

Also, if compatibility is mandated then how will new features be developed without potentially damaging legacy devices?

Well, if you *don't* follow the standard, then you ought to use a proprietary connector.

While I agree that the point of USB was to remove hassle, I think they failed monumentally at it. I have a ton of USB cables around here and you know why? Because they offered a variety of USB port sizes, for what purpose I'm not sure. Type A, Type B, mini-A, mini-B, micro-A, micro-B and now the USB-3.0 plugs. Compound that with female and male (yes, I have some NAS drives that have male ports for some unknown reason. So now, just to support USB, I have to keep 3-6 cables lying around. So is USB really the

Most of these phones become obsolete before the need a new cable. Usually those extra accessories will try to take advantage of a unique feature in the phone, so even if the cable fits it doesn't mean the software will work with it.

Bullshit, every single usb charger I've ever owned has worked with every single non-Apple usb device without any issues. The whole point of this standard is so that every phone does work, hassle free, with every charger (in fact the only devices I've seen complain about usb charging are Apple devices, go figure).

Also just because almost all phones come with a charger doesn't mean you won't need to either replace it or buy a 2nd charger, and if you had a previous phone you already have a perfectly good 2nd charger with no need to buy another one because your new phone is incompatible.

You know what? I count being able to borrow anyone at work's usb charging cable and have it work on my usb phone as a good thing.

The EU Law on this is just one of their Lets just find a way to stick it to the Americans law, because they had a fit that Apple took over Nokia lead.

Or maybe the EU cares about doing what's good for consumers and not just what's good for the company that pays them the most money.

If Apple "needs" a proprietary connector then they can put both a micro-usb connector and their expensive proprietary DRMd [appleinsider.com] cable.

in america we believe in something called private enterprise. where people can make products and sell them.

Rubbish, the US has plenty of standards. Would you like to see every home and apartment have its own proprietary mains power sockets? Every car manufacturer have its own type of filling nozzle? Every wi-fi router require a proprietary wi-fi adapter? Every TV and DVD player have its own proprietary video connector? No, I didn't think so. Why should phones be any different?

Remember that this [aliimg.com] was the free market's answer to phone charging, the EU decided that it was in citizens interests that a standard be set up so we don't have to deal with endless proprietary cables any more.

you know what's funny? apple sells a microusb->lighting adapter. why? so they technically fill their promise to support microusb. what promise? the promise for why nokia, samsung etc all switched to microusb(they all agreed to it back in the day.. prior to iphone launch, too).

Nokia. Nokia. Where have I been reading about Nokia lately? Oh yeah, that was the world-dominating handset company whose senior team decided in 2007 that the Apple iPhone was not a serious threat to their existing business. And a few years later killed their potentially iPhone-competitive product line. Good source of techno-business insight without a doubt.

Every iPhone comes with a lightning cable with a plain old USB-A connector on the other end. There would be no material difference if they shipped with a micro-USB cable.

The same is true with "extra" cables -- presumably, most people who wanted an extra cable would go buy a micro USB cable. I suppose some small minority of tech fanatics would have a bunch of micro USB cables already and never buy any additional cables, but this is really a trivial difference